Nigeria again urged developed countries to stop providing safe havens for corrupt individuals and their illegal funds.

The recovery of stolen funds from Nigeria was re-echoed at the ongoing International Monetary Fund (IMF)/World Bank Group Spring meetings in Washington DC, United States by Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun.

According to Adeosun, “To improve non-oil revenues, we have to address illicit capital flows. When stolen money is transferred from Nigeria, or other African countries, there are too few questions asked by those countries that receive the funds, but when we identify those funds as stolen and seek to recover them, there are too many questions being asked.

She said: “There is money sitting in foreign bank accounts that we have spent a fortune over a decade trying to recover. Such money could deliver significant value for Nigeria as we seek to increase spending on critical infrastructure and establish a basis for long-term sustainable growth.

Assistant Director of Fiscal Affairs Department, IMF, Catherine Patillo, lauded the Federal government’s Economic Recovery and Growth Programme (ERGP), as it is focused on diversification and in addressing some of the deep-seated problems related to strengthening of structures.

The World Bank Group affirmed that Nigeria, South Africa and Angola, the continent’s three largest economies, are seeing a rebound from the sharp slowdown in 2016.

According to the new Africa’s Pulse, a bi-annual analysis of the state of African economies conducted by the World Bank, which was released yesterday, the recovery remains weak, with growth expected to rise only slightly above population growth, a pace that hampers efforts to boost employment and reduce poverty.